National Gallery of Canada
My Upside-Down World!
M.C. Escher is famous for creating optical illusions. Examine this effect in several of his works and discuss the techniques involved. Inspired by the discussion, learners create an imaginary 3-D world inside of a box using various...
National Gallery of Canada
Urban Desire
Urban spaces are often overlooked and broken down. Offer your pupils the opportunity to reimagine an urban space. Learners examine and discuss works of art related to this theme and consider their own communities. Small groups then...
Curated OER
In Depth with the Full Spectrum
Students explore the basic color wheel and the ways that artists use color to guide the viewer's attention through a painting's composition. A creation of a sense of depth in a two dimensional space and the effect of color on mood and...
John F. Kennedy Center
Baila! Latin Dance in the Spanish Classroom
One, two, three. One, two, three. Invite your language learners to practice the steps for researching and presenting information. Each small group has the task of explaining one Latin dance in full detail.
Curated OER
Space Shuttles in Space
Learners use a pencil and paper to practice drawing their own space shuttle doodle. Using new directions, they draw another doodle in which they are allowed to add elements that were not allowed in the first drawing. They paint a space...
Curated OER
Does Negative Space Have A Shape?
Students observe negative space in drawing. In this negative space lesson, students discover that sketches include negative space or background. Students produce a drawing while paying attention to the negative space.
National Gallery of Art
Impressive Prints
Explore printmaking with a discussion and project. Pupils first view and talk about various examples of prints and cover positive and negative space. They then come up with fictional animals and make prints of their creature using...
Curated OER
Making Models of the Solar System
Students make several models of the solar system to learn the positions of the planets in the solar system as well as relative distances and sizes. Creation of these models will help them identify the planets by size, shape, color,...
National Gallery of Canada
The Tools of Perspective
Make a study of perspective in the real world. Learners examine and discuss works of art that show examples of perspective before trying their own hands at it. Using a grid drawn on transparent paper, class members transfer a view from a...
Project Articulate
Textured Landscapes with Grant Wood
Explore the world of textured landscapes through the eyes of the famous artist, Grant Wood. Here is an elementary art lesson in which scholars learn about Grant Wood's life, view his work, draw their own textured landscape, and then...
Curated OER
Telling Stories in Art: Witness to a Brawl
Middle schoolers examine how a piece of art tells a story. In this visual art instructional activity, students interpret a piece of art work by writing a newspaper article that tells the story of the moment in time that is depicted in a...
Curated OER
Positive & Negative Space
Students review and differentiate between positive and negative space, view teacher sample, and cut out shapes to create puzzle-like picture in which one color of paper represents positive space and one color represents negative space.
Curated OER
Interior Design - Space Unit
Students review the elements of design with a focus on space. During a lecture, they complete a listening guide and ask any questions they might have. Individually, they are given paper to design the classroom in regards to placement...
Curated OER
Space Shuttle Simulator
Fourth graders discuss the space shuttle and its parts. They vote on a class symbol to be placed on their models of the space shuttle. Students build a model of the space shuttle. They discuss the different media that they will use and...
Curated OER
Alice in Wonderland
Students explore the contrasting movement characteristics of Alice, the White Rabbit and the Queen of Hearts. In a circle students follow the teacher who introduces movement for the characters of the Alice, the White Rabbit and the Queen...
Curated OER
Make a Sundial
Students explore space science by conducting a sun experiment in class. In this time telling instructional activity, students discuss how the sun sits in our sky at exact times each day and how astronomy is based on our perspective of...
National Gallery of Canada
The Changing Composition
Play with dimensions and practice making a two-dimensional scene look three-dimensional. Class members view pieces of art and then make their own scenes by layering different materials and drawing in details. Check out all the tabs for...
Sargent Art
Rainforest Mural
Whether you are an art teacher or a teacher looking for a great project to finish off a unit on the rainforest, this instructional activity is for you. Here are some great teaching tips and instructional practices that can help you and...
Curated OER
Lift Off with Rockets!
Students obtain information concerning rockets and the use of them in space, create their own rocket on the computer with the graphic choices on the website www.goobo.com, and write descriptive words or phrases to describe their rockets.
Curated OER
Far-out Astronomy in a Suitcase
Ninth graders engage in a web-based research activity. They use a teacher provided worksheet to guide their research through the website. This lesson provide a excellent opportunity to showcase Canadians astronomy and space science...
Curated OER
Patterns in Dance and Math
Learners analyze how repeated body movements and shapes can represent and extend patterns. In this pattern analysis lesson, students discuss patterns in dance, math, and everyday living. Learners demonstrate a dance using a sequence of...
Curated OER
An Introduction To Pictorial Space
Students draw a picture of a landscape using techniques that create the illusion of space. They then transform this landscape drawing into a three-dimensional form, which depicts a mood or an emotion.
Curated OER
Sculptural Space
Students analyze the needs for outdoor sculpture and create their own example. In this sculpture lesson, students discuss the sculptural and architectural elements of site-specific sculpture. Students work in teams to select a space for...
Curated OER
Looking and Learning in the Art Museum - Lesson 1
Explore the artistic elements in artworks with an original and reproduction instructional activity. As learners recognize the difference between an original and a reproduction, they discuss the artist elements used in the reproduction.